Married with music: A royal discovery?

With all the weight of tradition, royal weddings aren't places for new artistic discoveries. Except for this one.

Out of the sea of stately rhythms and traditional choral harmonies came a distinctive new work by a composer completely new to me: Paul Mealor. The piece, Ubi Caritas, sung by the choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal, was rooted in Anglican church harmonies but with numerous captivating differences. Immediately, you sensed an individualistic compositional voice was at hand.

Vocal lines diverged from each other with a meaningful logic of their own, the bass voices rumbling around in all sorts of elemental, seemingly profound places, while the upper voices maintained a gentle tension with whatever other voices were nearby. Rhythmically, all voices constantly fooled you with subtle variations from their implied directions, and not just for the sake of ear-pricking novelty, but to project appropriately dignified emotionalism.

Press statements suggest the composer may be a discovery of the royal couple. The Welsh-born, 35-year-old Mealor is based on the Isle of Anglesey, where Prince William is stationed as a Royal Air Force rescue helicopter pilot. Mealor's piece was also premiered last year at Scotland's St. Andrews University, where the now-married couple is said to have met.

The composer wasn't present at the ceremony; reportedly, he watched it at home with his mum. But he should get plenty of mileage from the royal exposure: The piece is being released by the Decca label, and the entire service is promised to be for sale on an iTunes download soon, if it isn't there already.

In iTunes, one also has the brand-name composer of the wedding ceremony, John Rutter, whose anthem, This is the day which the Lord hath made, was written specifically for the occasion. Though Rutter is a respected choral conductor, his compositions tend to be so downmarket (to use a British term) that one could only be grateful the new piece didn't sound like an Olympic fanfare (which isn't unusual for him).

This new piece was more intimate, even having passing melodic resemblances to Leonard Bernstein's "Simple Song." To describe it as sounding like a rejected ballad from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical - refitted with a sacred text, of course - would be a relative compliment.

Overall, the wedding music struck a satisfying balance between serving a background function of heightening key emotional moments and reaffirming the greatness of British culture. Compare, just for fun, patriotic Brits such as Elgar and Walton with, say, the German nationalism of Wagner. Woody Allen once said there's something about Wagner that makes you want to invade Poland. Wagner's aggression comes in the form of harmonies that can insinuate with a narcotic effect.

While often not on an artistic level with Wagner, British composers tend to be too proud, genteel and sober for such seductions. They just present themselves in all their imperial glory with all musical elements in harmonious balance. They attract you to their civilized world - a subtle but considerable difference.

Contact music critic David Patrick Stearns at dstearns@phillynews.com.